Originally posted by Gollnick:
...but the most reliable, the strongest lock in any folding knife design is the simple balisong. Locked open, a balisong is virtually as strong as a fixed-blade knife.
Similarly, I believe you could say the same general things about the Barry Wood-invented swinging handle style knives. I don't know how else to describe them other than "Barry Wood". That doesn't mean it's my favorite though. I own exactly one, because I find it too cumbersome to open and close, but wanted to own one of these gizmothangs, knowhutImean?
Barry swears that if you had to take a folder into the wilderness and use it hard, this is the least likely style to fail you, or worse, close on your hand a long ways from civilization. I think he might be right. Hope I don't get stuck in the wilderness with just a folder though. Barry retired. His son-in-law, Mike Irie, continues to make these to order I believe (custom).
Having said that, a good quality, properly constructed liner lock is the most populous in my collection. The good ones are, well, good enough for me, as I don't stab trees and legs of lamb with mine too often ... at all. I have no big concerns about self defense with a good liner lock.
I agree that the Reeve styled frame lock is surely a very secure mechanical lockup. Reeve's Sebenza's are true working folders with a super heat treat on BG-42. Darrel Ralph does a nice job with this Reeve style lock. If you can stand to look at his obnoxious designs/colors/material choices, Elishewitz and now Crawford both do this kind of lock in their "Janus" folders also.
But no mistake, there are a lot of lousy linerlocks on the market, and poorly done, they are just poor locks. They require precision and repeatability in machining/mfg'ing to the thousandth. Not all vendors give a $#!+ though.
The Axis lock has a simple robustness to it, but I find it isn't as smooth over time, whatever that counts for, as it seems more prone to pocket grit buildup than liner locks. Gotta clean if frequently. Guess I ought quit stealing dirt and sand from work and stashing in my my pocket, eh?
I do have one Scott Sawby with his "Self Lock". It is indeed very clever, and patented. It is very difficult to accidentally unlock if that sort of thing concerns you greatly. One drawback, it is a rather large lock, and so makes any knife using it by definition rather inefficient if you consider the blade length-to-handle length ratio. Scott either hasn't had many offers, or does not wish to license out the patent, I don't know which.
[This message has been edited by rdangerer (edited 06-20-2000).]
[This message has been edited by rdangerer (edited 06-20-2000).]
